In order to deliver web-scale semantically based enterprise management it was necessary to create an entirely new infrastructure to support it. Research was conducted into database systems, semantics, user interfaces and web protocols amongst other things, over a period of 10 years. The objective of this exercise was to discover the best way of doing things regardless of prevailing fashions and trends.

Most web platforms simply provide a virtual environment for application development by programmers. In contrast, ThoughtExpress provides a high level abstract environment in which domain specific experts directly express enterprise semantics.

Even though our offerings are web based, we can also provide the equivalent in an onsite model if need be.

Database

Databases employing the traditional RDBMS paradigm suffer from inflexibility, lack of performance and are not web-scalable. This is documented in a recent paper by Stonebraker, Helland et al. In fact, this paper corroborates many of the guiding principles behind our database design. Together with semantic forms of expression, the whole information store is very efficient and scalable. For example, the online read/write database is separated from the batch-processing database and replicated in real time. Processing is not done in the traditional way, but rather by a conceptual processor that applies semantics to the database inputs. Consequently, the read/write database is often only 5% the size of the corresponding traditional relational database and the processing speed can reach millions of transactions per second. Finally, the database schema is so generic that there is no need to alter it, regardless of application domain.

Web Technology

We have developed a real time, low bandwidth protocol that allows for automated self-publishing of the system user interface. It runs in any browser and has built-in telephony control, imaging, printing and sound.

Conceptual Processor

The conceptual processor is where enterprise semantics are expressed, stored, managed and executed. It comes with a revolutionary new form of expression for knowledge. Processing of information by the conceptual processor is massively web-scalable and can run on thousands of CPUs concurrently and be managed in real time. This represents the heart of ThoughtExpress. A very large set of generic enterprise semantics is embedded in our knowledge repository and is available for instant use. The level of complexity that can be handled is nearly infinite and, most importantly, is readable and expressible by non-technical domain specific experts without the need to know how to program. A base of ready-made semantics is available for generic financial services enterprises. This includes our own theory of the generic financial contract which encapsulates all varieties of financial contracts within one structure. This includes life, employee benefits, short-term, medical aid, equities, derivatives as well as any other complex structured products.

Enterprise Processes

The platform comes pre-populated with a collection of generic processes that are found in enterprises. These can be tailored to specific needs.